Range View Elementary School raised more than $11,100 this year for the American Cancer Society through the Windsor Relay for Life, more than any other school in the Windsor-Severance Re-4 School District.

Together all the schools in the district raised more than $22,000, Kristi Smart, volunteer chairwoman for the Windsor Relay for Life, said Wednesday.

To symbolically end the fundraising efforts, Range View students ran a lap of their school in honor of Windsor's Relay for Life Wednesday.

Each of the classes presented their handmade paper banners they made in class and filled with the names people they cared about who fought, survived or died from cancer. Throughout the day, each class passed under the purple and white balloon arch and took off on their lap.

This is the kids' chance to celebrate participating in Relay Recess, a program that brings the American Cancer Society Relay For Life into elementary schools, Shauna Curtis said Wednesday.

Curtis is the Range View Elementary School International Baccalaureate coordinator and youth coordinator for Windsor Relay for Life.

Recommended Stories For You

"They've been fundraising since the beginning of the year," she said. So the lap each class takes around the school bring that fundraising to an end "and is sort of a mini version of the real Relay (for Life) event."

With the laps, the balloon arch and the posters, the lap lets the students feel like they are a part of the Windsor Relay for Life, Curtis said. Family are encouraged to come to the full event in the summer, July 18, too, she added.

Range View holds another special honor with their fundraising this year; fifth grade student Morgan Schenck raised the most of any individual student, at $1,035. Last year Morgan managed to achieve the same distinction and raised over $1,000 then as well.

She said while she is proud of how much money she said, it is not about her. She does in memory of her Uncle, Norman Frantz, who had cancer and died last year.

What Morgan and her classmates have done not only helps the community, it also fits in line with the school's goals.

"So a big part of being an (International Baccalaureate) is that we teach children to take action," Curtis said. "This is a way that they can begin to participate in community events to help other people."